By Chris Haberman
How not to freak out over midterms
By Chris Haberman
Staff Writer
School can be fun. Friends and certain faculty members make your day a little brighter, a job well done comes along every so often, and the occasional class-skipping reminds you that you are human. You are not a robot capable of being programmed to remain alert for hours and absorb information quite rapidly for midterm examinations. Yes, midterms are here. They are the halfway mark that comes heavy with both relief and dread for all involved. The students are not thrilled about comprehensive testing sessions, and the teachers aren’t too thrilled about spending the intense amount of time it’s going to take to grade the damn things. You add the stress of midterms to everyday life’s ups and downs, and you’ve got yourself a pretty hectic little cocktail of an existence goin’ on there. Here are some ways for you to drop some of that weight from your shoulders.
For starters, you must understand that you are not the only one living in hell. Other students are missing out on sleep, fun, and wonderfully filthy parties just like you. Here is where you can save yourself, though! Don’t become another one of the zombies lumbering around campus, waiting for the day when they can finally take the midterm, return to their car or dorm and quietly die. These people never do well on the test anyway. Try to adjust your work schedule to allow you to get home early, or take a couple of nights off in the weeks you need to study. With that time, go to sleep early and wake up early.
Cook yourself breakfast, for crying out loud! Ease your way into the day rather than springing out of bed after your seventh snooze alarm outburst reminds that “just another five minutes” of sleep will make you late for your third class. Once you’ve gotten some good hours of studying in, the experts say it’s good to reward yourself! that means either going to pick up some Taco Bell and chillin’ on the couch for awhile, or renting a movie and chillin’ on the couch for a while. Whatever your reward is, make sure you deserve it, because the more you get out of one study session, the less reluctant you’ll be to pick the books back up.
Finally, don’t be afraid to tell people to go away. You have to. You have to if you wanna make it out there in the cruel, selfish’real’ world. Hopefully, you’ll escape with respect for yourself rather than loathing, energy to finally have fun instead of exhaustion, an eagerness to finish the semester rather than fear, and some pretty good grades too.
